Wednesday Windfall
London, Little Cloud World public art installation, Covent Garden’s Market Building, by artists FriendsWithYou. Photo by Paul Grover, posted at theguardian.com:
Excerpt from a nypost.com editorial: “In the past decade, more than 7.8 million Venezuelans have fled the country.” Yet Maduro eked out a victory. What is about socialism that appeals to so many, to enough citizens to make stealing an election possible, if necessary? I don’t get it.
I’m not a fan of lists, as they are generally opinion. Here’s one that provides facts: 12 Movies That Made 100 Times Their Budget at the Box Office by Chris Morgan, culled from moviemaker.com:
Blair With Project (1999). Cost: less than a mil, return: $248.6 million worldwide. I didn’t like it, but the creators and cast have done well since, so maybe there was something I didn’t understand at work.
Mad Max (1979). Cost: $400,000 Aussie dollars, return: more than $100 mil. Only okay, but it kicked off an entertaining franchise.
Halloween (1978). Cost: estimated $300,000, return: $70 million. Surprised it wasn’t more. “What’s the Boogie Man?” Evil will always be with us, my child.
Super Size Me (2004). Cost: $65,000, return: $22 mil. Haven’t seen it.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974). Cost: estimated between $80,000-$140,000, return: almost $31 mil. I’m not a fan of such flicks, but the creative team did an awesome job with this one.
Gone with the Wind (1939). Cost: $3.85 million, enormous back then; return: $390 million. Bores me.
American Graffiti (1973). Cost: $770,000; return $140 million. Great movie.
Friday the 13th (1980). Cost: $550,000, return: $59.8 million. Again, I don’t enjoy such fare, but enough people do. So many sequels.
Napoleon Dynamite (2004). Cost: $400,000, return: $46.1 million. Offbeat fun.
Paranormal Activity (2009): Cost: $215,000, return $194.2 million. I wasn’t attentive enough to it to rate it. I probably should have rewatched.
Once (2007). Cost: $150,000, return: $23.3 million. Touching and beautiful.
Rocky (1975). Cost: approximately $1 mil, return: $225 million. I’m one of the few who didn’t like it. Please don’t hate me.
What do Laura Dern, Jake Gyllenhaal, Matt Damon, Tom Hanks, Clint Eastwood and Halle Berry have in common? All dropped out of college to pursue acting, according to a foxnews.com article by Janelle Ash.
Cloud cover took the sting out of the humidity until the sun appeared late in today’s session of the Anti-Inflation Book Shop. My thanks to the gentleman who donated a cache of CDs in various languages, and to the middle-aged couple who bought CDs by Kenny G, Dan Sisto & Suspension of Disbelief, and Busiest People Ever! by Richard Scarry, a kid’s pictorial.
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